


A Person's Worth

by melonbutterfly



Series: cacw fix-its [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Scene, Civil War Fix-It, Communication, Fix-It, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 05:59:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6892891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a brief moment Bucky remains silent, and then he says, voice quiet but factual, just a bare scratch to it, "I don't know if I'm worth all this to you."</p><p>And there will forever be only one answer to this. "You are."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Person's Worth

They're in the air. Adrenaline is still sending the blood racing through his veins, heart beating fast in his chest, but it's slowing down, because they're in the air. Safe and on their way. Nothing can stop them now, not without killing them.

He does his very best not to think about his friends in Leipzig, what's going to happen to them. A month ago he would have believed that it wouldn't be anything bad. They'd get due procedure, including lawyers and a fair trial and it would remain to be seen if they actually did anything illegal, except for perhaps property damage in Leipzig. But a lot has happened in the past week; with a sickening lurch in his stomach Steve remembers Ross' reaction to his question about Bucky's legal representation. God, he's so glad Bucky got out of that situation, as horrible as the circumstances of his escape were. But the thought that now his friends are at the mercy of these people...

 _Don't think about it_ , he reminds himself. He'll have time to think about all his regrets and fuck ups later; right now he has a job to do.

Then Bucky speaks, and that fact alone is enough to capture Steve's attention wholly. "What's gonna happen to your friends?"

Shit. And there it is. Right now, there really is only one answer. "Whatever it is... I'll deal with it."

For a brief moment Bucky remains silent, and then he says, voice quiet but factual, just a bare scratch to it, "I don't know if I'm worth all this to you."

And there will forever be only one answer to this. "You are." Without a moment's hesitation, Steve engages the copilot and turns around so he can look Bucky in the eyes. "You are, Bucky, without question. There's nothing... til the end of the line, remember?" He licks his lips, has to lower his gaze for a moment, but then he meets Bucky's gaze again with no hesitation. "I never wanted for this to happen, but I... I regret a lot of things that happened, but I don't regret this. I don't regret coming for you, or helping you, and if all those 117 countries handed me a written order that I'm supposed to hand you in- hell, if all the countries in the world did, I still wouldn't do it. Because I don't believe for one moment that they'd treat you right. You didn't have a choice, not in any of this, Bucky, you don't deserve to be treated like this and I'm so sorry-"

"Hey," Bucky interrupts him softly, looking alarmed. "Hey, Stevie." His hands frame Steve's face, one rough and callused and warm, the other metallic-hard, but not as cold as Steve might have expected. "It's not your fault, Steve. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Neither did you," Steve emphasizes, angry at the tears welling up in his eyes, angry with how he's making it all about him again. Covering Bucky's hands with his own, he cradles them between his and leans in, focused fully on Bucky's eyes, those sea blue eyes he missed so much. "You didn't do anything wrong at all, Bucky, not one thing. It wasn't you. They took all choices away from you and what they made you into, what they forced you to do, it's all on them. Not one iota of the blame goes to you. And even after everything they did to you, after they took everything away from you including your identity and your _memories_ , Bucky, you still managed to... you're such a truly good person that even after all of that, you managed to break through the conditioning. Bucky, you're the best person I know and even if I didn't love you as much as I do, you'd be worth all of it. You're worth everything."

Bucky says nothing, nothing at all; he looks he has no words to give, expression somewhere between denial and hope, disbelief and longing. Then he squeezes his eyes shut and lets his head drop to Steve's shoulder.

Steve takes a few shaky breaths, trying to calm down. "You're worth everything to me, Bucky," he whispers and closes his eyes, leans his cheek against Bucky's head. Bucky shivers but his hands remain still, cradled in Steve's. They're so strong, those hands; Steve remembers looking at them when they were in their mid-teens and abruptly realizing that they're a man's hands. That Bucky was all grown up, doing a man's work in the garage, honest and down to earth, just like Bucky.

One of those hands is still the same as it was back then, if callused differently now, skilled in so many more areas. The other... is still a hand. A robotic one, but it's nothing more than a fancy prosthetic. It's still Bucky's hand.

And Bucky is worth everything.

**Author's Note:**

> this scene just bothers me so much. i feel that the writers have done steve a HUGE disservice writing him reacting the way he did - not even engaging bucky's topic, the first time bucky actually bringing something up, their first potentially actually deep conversation. steve replying the way he did in the movie implies that bucky isn't worth all of this to steve, but that because of his principles and bc it's not bucky's fault, steve will stand with him. it practically SCREAMS "no homo", steve giving bucky the cold shoulder like that. which pisses me off on two levels: a) homophobia and b) bucky and steve can still mean the world to each other without there having to be anything sexual about it.
> 
> if y'all wanna talk about cw with me you can [come visit me on tumblr](http://flylittlekoala.tumblr.com/) as well btw


End file.
